Search Results

Volatile compounds contribute to carrot (Daucus carota) flavor. However, effects of postharvest treatments on these compounds are not defined. To characterize treatment effects, fresh carrots (cv. Sunrise) were treated with 0 or 1.0 μL/L 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) at 10 °C for 16 h, then exposed to 0, 0.3, or 1.0 μL/L ozone (O₃) at 10 °C for 1, 2, or 4 days, and subsequently stored at 0 °C for up to 24 weeks. Twelve terpenes were identified in the headspace over whole carrots, including dimethylstyrene (22.5%), alpha-pinene (19.1%), caryophyllene (15.8%), beta-pinene (9.1%), p-cymene (8.3%), limonene (7.7%), gamma-terpinene (6.7%), myrcene (4.7%), gamma-terpinolene (4.5%) camphene (1.0%), alpha-phellandrene (0.52%), and sabinene (0.03%). Most terpenes responded similarly to treatments and storage. Immediately after treatment with 1.0 μL/L O₃ for 1, 2, or 4 days, total terpene concentrations were 45%, 85%, and 87% greater than concentrations in non-treated controls. Caryophyllene, beta-pinene, and sabinene did not increase in response to the O₃ treatment unlike the other terpenes. 1-MCP reduced terpene concentrations by an average of 18%. O₃ treatments also stimulated stress volatile production. Ethanol headspace concentrations were 8-, 21-, and 43-times greater than the nontreated controls immediately following treatments with 0.3 nL/L O₃ for 4 days or 1.0 μL/L O₃ for 2 or 4 days, respectively. However, after 8 weeks, no differences among treatments were observed. Hexanal production also was stimulated by all O₃ treatments, being 2- to 11-times greater than controls immediately following treatment. 1-MCP reduced O₃-stimulated ethanol and hexanal production by 23% and 8%, respectively.

This study evaluated the effects of pre-plant treatments: deep ripping (DR), fumigation (F), deep ripping plus fumigation (DRF), deep ripping plus hog manure compost (DRC), and deep ripping plus fumigation plus hog manure compost (DRFC) in comparison with a non-treated control (NTC) on shoot and root performance of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple trees on M.4 rootstocks in an old orchard site with apple replant disease (ARD). Cylindrocarpon spp., Pythium spp., and Pratylenchus penetrans Cobb, all potential agents of ARD, were present in the orchard soil. Fine-root numbers (1 to 2.9 mm diameter) were significantly greater in the DRC and DRFC treatments than the DR treatment. After 6 years, trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA) and yield were largest for the DRFC treatment followed closely by F. The DR treatment had no effect on TCSA, yield, or yield efficiency when applied alone compared with the NTC. Contrast analysis demonstrated that F was significantly better than non-F for yield in all years and TCSA and yield efficiency in 2007. Also, there was a significant interaction between DR and F treatment in 2005 that significantly reduced yield in the DRF treatment. Contrast analysis showed that compost had a significant positive effect on yield in all three production years and TCSA and yield efficiency in 2007. Yield efficiency in the third production year was largest for F, DRC, and the DRFC treatments. Nutrient analysis revealed that soil phosphorus concentrations in compost-treated plots were double those in other treatments. High phosphorus content of compost may have contributed to the amelioration of ARD symptoms. This study found that in 2007, soil fumigation alone, as conventionally used for ARD control, and composted hog manure were equally effective in increasing yield and yield efficiency of apple trees planted in an ARD soil. The DRFC treatment was the overall best treatment in all years.

Stem elongation rate (SER) in Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura was determined in light and in darkness under various temperature regimes. Stem growth as measured with linear voltage displacement transducers on plants in growth chambers. Under alternating 11-hour days and 13-hour nights, SER was strongly temperature dependent and showed patterns that were characteristic of the particular photoperiod-temperature regime under which the plants were grown. Total daily elongation was similar at constant 18.3C and at 11.5C days and 24C nights, but was much greater at 25.7C days and 12C nights. SER was rhythmic in continuous light with a period of slightly less than 24 hours. In continuous darkness, however, SER declined rapidly and the rhythm disappeared within 11 hours. Low-temperature pulses (a rapid decline from 18.3C to 8.3C) applied for 2, 4, 6, 8, or 11 hours during the day induced an immediate decline in SER followed by a slow recovery and peak shortly after the end of the pulse. Total diurnal stem growth declined with increasing pulse length, although short (2-hour) duration pulses apparently had little effect on growth. The results are discussed in relation to the influence of day and night temperature differentials (DIF) on stem growth in Dendranthema.

In Fall 2001 in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley (Canada), several million kilograms of processing and table-stock potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) were affected by a severe “musty” “off” flavor and “off” odor that persisted after cooking. 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA), a potent musty flavor/odor compound that is not known to be a potato metabolite was detected in samples of three potato lots rejected by consumers. To determine the role and source of TCA in the affected crop, samples of tubers from 30 fields were evaluated, including examination of production inputs and industry estimation of the “off” flavor, expert organoleptic assessment of flavor–odor intensity, and analytical quantitation of the TCA content of affected tubers, followed by a soil challenge to provoke TCA production. Production of “musty” potatoes was associated with unusually hot (>30 °C) soil temperatures during the 2001 growing season, and in some cases with γ-cyclohexane hexachloride (CHC) applied to control soil wireworm (putatively Limonius agonus Say). TCA quantitation and organoleptic assessment were in general agreement. Samples of soils from “idle” fields (no agricultural inputs for at least 8 years) and “production” fields (produced “off”-flavor potatoes in 2001) were subjected to several factors: 1) presence or absence of potato tubers; 2) preheating at 30 °C for 3 days, or no preheating; and followed by 3) no pesticides, or γ-CHC, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, fludioxonil, imidacloprid, or linuron applied singly, or all six pesticides applied together. After incubation for 2 weeks at 22 °C day/14 °C night with a 14-hour photoperiod, solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric analysis revealed that untreated soils released small quantities of TCA (2.8 mol·kg⁻¹) whereas higher quantities of TCA were present in soils treated with pesticides (3.8–6.6 mol·kg⁻¹). The quantity of TCA released was not significantly affected by the presence or absence of potato tubers, but it was increased by preheating the soil sample, regardless of the other two factors, and by an interaction between pesticides and soil source. The quantity of TCA from both “idle” and “production” soils was highest when γ-CHC was added alone (214% and 284% of checks respectively). TCA production increased in the presence of the other five pesticides applied singly in “production” soils, but not in “idle” soils. Application of the six pesticides together increased TCA in both soils. Such an association of TCA-based “musty” “off” flavor with field soils containing γ-CHC and other pesticides combined with high soil temperature had not been reported previously.